Hybrid Electrifies Racing Circuit

The Ginetta-Zytek hybrid racer from Corsa Motorsports combines two things we love best: high technology and auto racing. The gas-electric car ran again last weekend at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and we corralled driver Johnny Mowlem to ask the biggest question we’ve had since the car made its American Le Mans Series debut earlier this season:

What’s it like to drive?

“Cool!” Mowlem told us by phone after Friday’s practice session in the car, called the 09HS. You could almost see him smiling as he said it with his British accent. His enthusiasm for the car was infectious, and it’s easy to see he’s a big believer in the technology.

Le Mans–style racing has become the place where enviro-friendly ideas like biofuels and hybrid drivetrains are put to the test. The successes of the Audi and Peugeot diesels at Le Mans are well known, and here in the states the American Le Mans Series has ushered in a series of initiatives to make racing greener and the technology more relevant to cars the rest of us drive.

We’ve been following the Ginetta-Zytek hybrid racer for a while now, and the car is doing quite well given that it’s seen just three races. The car finished seventh overall on Sunday. It took third place during its first outing at Lime Rock, a race — and a finish — Mowlem called “exciting.”

The car has made a strong start to be sure, but the downside is its growing pains are occurring with the whole world watching. There’s a lot of pressure when everyone’s watching you.

“It can seem like two steps backward, three steps forward,” Mowlem said of the car’s development. Of course, you’ve got to got through that if you’re going to work out the bugs.

“It’s frustrating,” he said, before quickly adding, “[I] love it and love the racing.”

The hybrid technology in the Ginetta-Zytek differs from the kinetic-energy recovery system used this season in Formula 1. The racing regulations require the system to work as it would in a road car, so there isn’t a button Mowlem or his teammate Stefan Johansson can push to get an added boost of power as in F1.

The car sports a 4.0-liter V-8 engine and a 45-kilowatt electric motor. The motor is mounted between the engine and the gearbox. Regenerative braking stores power in a lithium-ion battery made by Continental. As Racin’ Today notes, the car is still a work in progress.

Johansson said the team hasn’t yet enjoyed all the benefits of the electric motor. “It would be nice to get 20, 30 or 40 more horsepower,” he told Racin’ Today. According to Autoblog Green, the car completed one lap of Silverstone in England on electric power alone and hit 75 mph during a testing session earlier this year.

Mowlem ssaid the system offers seamless power delivery that’s so smooth he “can’t tell when it’s on.”

ALMS officials want to see a direct transfer of racing technology to road cars, and Mowlem said Zytek — which built the car for Corsa — embraces that philosophy. Zytek also developed the KERS system McLaren-Mercedes is using this season. Driver Lewis Hamilton took first place at the Hungarian Grand Prix using the system.

Corsa Motorsports is preparing the car for a strong race during the season finale at the Petit Le Mans. Mowlem said the team figures it will have most of the bugs worked out by then and we’ll see what the technology is truly capable of. Corsa’s ultimate goal is to showcase the technology at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.